It is important to note that this headline creates a very high expectation.

So make sure you deliver something epic.

The headline is perfectly matched for long-form content format, such as ebooks, research studies, white papers, or blog posts over 2,000 words.

You have to back up the lofty claim of an “Ultimate Guide.”

Examples:

How to Find a Date Online – The Ultimate Guide

How to Master Action Photography – The Ultimate Guide

How to Get Your First Book Published – The Ultimate Guide

Public Speaking for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide

3. How to Action/Goal in Year

The perceived shelf-life of most information is very short these days.

Your audience can easily assume your advice is outdate, even if the how-to instructions don’t fundamentally change that much.

The newer your information, the more they trust it.

This headline tells your readers in a subtle way that your article delivers with the latest and greatest.

Another side benefit of putting the year in a headline is that it creates a sense of urgency.

It also says don’t miss this or you’ll be out-of-date and behind everyone else.

Pro Tip: Adding a year to your headline is a must have for subjects that are very time-sensitive. Fashion or style topics, such as clothes or shoes, or entertainment advice about music or movies can be fleeting. You have to clearly demonstrate that you are up-to-date in your headline.

Examples:

How to Prepare for the GMAT in 2016

How to Make a Viral Video in 2016

How to Be the Most Popular Kid in School in 2016

How to Get a Raise in 2016

4. How to Use Tool to Action/Goal

Tools help us get things done.

We just need to know how to use them in the best way.

This headline shows your audience that you can provide instructions how to use one of their tools in a specific way. Or to solve a specific problem.

Pro Tip: Remove the “to” in your how-to headline. You can increase your reader’s curiosity, while still effectively promising the how-to benefit. You can give the headline a personal subject, like “You”.For example, “How You Can Use Social Media to Generate More Leads”. Or you can simply modify the verb or action part of your headline. For example, “How Using Social Media Can Generate More Leads”.

Examples:

How to Use Social Media to Generate More Leads

How to Use Compost to Fertilize Your Garden

How to Use Rules to Unclutter Your Email Inbox

How to Use Solar Panels to Cut Your Energy Bill by 90%

5. How to Action/Goal That Your Target Audience Will Love

This how-to headline style brings in a personal connection.

You can increase the emotional response to your headline by adding two personal elements:

Use “Your”: Our brains are unconsciously self-centered and focused on what is good for “you”.

Plus, your writing tone shifts to your audience’s perspective.

As a result, you are more likely to make a connection and induce action.

Name a Group of People: We’re social animals.

We are drawn to groups of people that are important to us – family, friends, or coworkers.

Add that target group into your headline.

You signal to your reader, “Hey, this was created for me.”

Examples:

How to Write Headlines Your Readers Will Love

How to Give a Presentation that Even Your Worst Critic Will Love

How to Serve Wine Your Dinner Guests Will Love

How to Prepare Vegetables Your Kids Will Love

6. How to Be Personal Quality

This is the headline version of the self-help book.

You know how popular self-help books are, right?

People are motivated by what they can and desire to be.

We imagine transforming ourselves and our lives.

Being better as a person.

Improving oneself can be an incredibly intense emotion that we have to act on.

Providing how-to guidance on how to be more is often more powerful than instructions on how to do something.

This headline taps into that.

Examples:

How to Be Confident

How to Be a Great Writer

How to Be Calm Under Pressure

How to Be Healthier and Live Longer

7. How to Action/Goal – Even If Obstacle

Have you ever read a headline and thought, “That won’t work for me because [insert excuse].”?

That reaction isn’t exactly self-sabotage.

It’s your information filter kicking into action.

You are quickly filtering out the need to read that article at that moment.

Everybody does it.

If you deliver a weak headline, your article will be filtered out and not read.

How do you counter that?

Directly acknowledge a common obstacle or challenge to success.

Everybody believes their individual situation is special and unique. Psychologically we are self-centered.

By adding a common obstacle into the headline, you’ve made the reader feel that this article was written for them and their exact situation.

Examples:

How to Lose Weight – Even If You Hate Diets

How to Build a Website – Even If You Aren’t a Programmer

How to Get an A in Math – Even If You Struggle with Multiplication

How to Finish a Marathon – Even If You Have Never Run a Mile

8. How to Action/Goal WithoutNegative Reaction

This headline template also leverage an objection or something your audience wants to avoid.

But it does it in a different way than #7.

This headline taps into a psychological tension called cognitive dissonance.

Let me explain.

You want to do something. You want to succeed really, really bad.

But there is a negative reaction that is very likely to happen.

So you’re not sure if you’re willing to do what’s necessary to get it done.

That negative tension is cognitive dissonance.

However, for headline writers, this tension is a big opportunity.

Unconsciously that tension makes us pay more attention. Our brain is trying to find a solution to the conflict and makes us stop.

A how-to headline that plays into cognitive dissonance is really effective for two reasons.

First, the headline has stopping power.

Second, it promises a solution to the conflict.

Examples:

How to Pay Less Taxes Without Being Audited by the IRS

How to Vacation in Hawaii Without Spending a Fortune

How to Lose Weight Without Going to the Gym

How to Work Just 10 Hours a Week Without Getting Fired

9. How to Action/Goal and Action/Goal

What’s better than delivering how-to instructions to achieve one goal.

Conquering two goals!

Promising two solutions in a single headline adds extra punch to a standard how-to headline.

The relationship between the two benefits amplifies your message.

You can apply this approach in two ways:

Combine related benefits: Matching the first benefit to the second one leads to a larger benefit that is bigger than the sum of the parts.

Make an intriguing contrast: An improbable mix of two counter-intuitive benefits is simply irresistible.

Examples:

How to Work Smarter and Get a Bigger Raise

How to Graduate from College and Find Your Dream Job

How to Fire Your Sales Team and Double Your Sales

How to Stop Replying to Email and Improve Your Communications

10. How to Action/Goal While You Different Action

This headline template triggers the perplexing thought of doing two things at once.

Huh?

Yep. Makes you curious.

It makes you stop. And then likely to read on.

Your audience wants to find out if it’s even possible. And if it is true, then how would they do it.

Fortunately you have the answer.

Pro Tip: This approach works very well when helping your audience improve a desired personal quality. The “while doing something else” part makes it seem much easier to achieve their goal. They’ll definitely want to read on to find out how.